When workers matter most: a study of worker cooperatives and the prioritization of workers through COVID-19
Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership
ISSN: 2514-7641
Article publication date: 15 November 2021
Issue publication date: 26 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
As a part of the authors’ continued efforts to understand the experience and trends related to small business cooperatives, the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) and the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) explored themes around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces.
Design/methodology/approach
The USFWC and DAWI conduct a biannual Economic Census of worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces. Survey themes this year included questions around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual firms.
Findings
General findings indicate that worker cooperatives experienced financial losses similar to conventional small businesses, but that this varied widely by industry. Although it has been found that BIPOC-owned conventional small businesses have been some of the hardest hit during the pandemic, the authors find that there may be some mitigating protective effects of the worker cooperative form when the authors explore the impacts on worker cooperatives with a majority BIPOC workforce. Additionally, the authors find that worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces strive to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their workers even when facing significant financial challenges throughout the pandemic.
Research limitations/implications
This research utilizes non-random convenience sampling in data collection. The outreach for our biannual Economic Census is concentrated on a highly connected worker cooperative and democratic workplace network, the experiences of which may not generalize to the larger worker cooperative and democratic workplace landscape. Additionally, outreach efforts were hindered by challenges presented by the pandemic that were not present in prior census years, as was firm bandwidth to respond, which likely affected the sample composition in comparison to prior years.
Originality/value
Worker cooperatives have been proven to be a resilient crisis response form of business, but little is known about how the worker cooperative ecosystem in the United States is faring in the face of the continuing COVID-19 crisis.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work is the result of a deep collaboration with the Democracy at Work Institute’s sister organization, the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, including Membership Director Ana Martina Rivas and Policy Director Mo Manklang and the many people on the staff at both organizations who devoted time to this project. Outreach support was provided by member-owners of Radiate Consulting™ Cooperative, which allowed us to include more worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in surveying than any previous year of our survey. The landscape of worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces in Puerto Rico was provided by Pablo Benson-Silva. His findings were invaluable to the project.
This work was made possible by funding from the USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant, the WK Kellogg Foundation and the Cooperative Charitable Trust.
Citation
Prushinskaya, O., Pockrandt, J., McKinley, J. and Hoover, M. (2021), "When workers matter most: a study of worker cooperatives and the prioritization of workers through COVID-19", Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 106-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPEO-08-2021-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited